ラグビーが統合する南北アイルランド

That's some achievement. For centuries Ireland has been a place of bitter religious and political conflict that has regularly spilled into violence. And almost 100 years after the creation of an independent and predominantly Roman Catholic republic in the south mutual animosity still taint the relationship with the majority Protestant north that remains under British rule. Division is the rule and sport is no exception: don't look for an all-Ireland soccer team. Yet in the words of "Ireland's Call", the island's rugby players are ready to stand "shoulder to shoulder".

Such a show of cross-border goodwill is all the more remarkable given Rugby's particular history. When the game evolved in mid-19th England, it was always associated with the elite boarding schools that educated the British ruling class resented by the Irish as their colonial overlords. Irish nationalists fighting for independence labelled Rugby an alien sport and pushed their own alternatives. To this day, Gaelic Football and hurling - an Irish form of hockey - attract a mass following. But the attraction of Rugby proved strong. A burgeoning Irish middle class quickly took to the game as well as the British and an official Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) was soon formed, governing the sport in the entire island.